Hydrogen is desirable as a secondary source of energy for many applications because its reaction with oxygen produces a clean by-product, i.e., water. Hydrogen has increasingly been considered as an environmentally clean energy carrier in the field of mobile or stationary applications. However, use of hydrogen as an energy carrier has met with many implementation challenges. For example, efficient on-board storage and release of hydrogen is identified as one of the key practical obstacles to realizing a transition to hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Sorbent materials have been indicated in hydrogen storage. In conventional applications, molecular hydrogen is adsorbed into sorbent materials via relatively weak forces, such as Van der Waals interactions. However, these sorbent materials have limited use because of the cost-prohibitive energy expenditures for maintaining the needed low temperatures. There is a continuing need for sorbent hydrogen storage materials with industrially acceptable cost efficiency for operation and maintenance.